The most dominant hen of flock suddenly died, need advice, graphic pictures

[Eggcessive]

To me the liver is pale and there is more fat that normal. Did you notice any yellow ascites fluid when the body was opened? In all of the necropsies I have done, I have only seen one hen with fatty liver. If you don’t give a lot of treats, scratch, or table scraps you probably don’t have too much to worry about. It might be a good idea to handle your hens occasionally just to feel of the breast muscles and how prominent the keel/breast bone is. Some fat hens will have a lot of poofiness over the tail. I questioned having roosters because I had a hen really beat up once by a young cockerel because she refused to mate with the him or the rooster. A prolapse is the usual reason other chickens will attack the vent, because of the red color.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

Thank you so much for your kind message and sharing your experience, this means a lot to me.

So you think that that fat around her organs is normal?

Her vent was wide open when I found her laying on the ground and I did not see any egg shell fragments. Her vent looked like there could have been an egg in, but those were intestines.

Unfortunately, I did not look at her lungs.

She had all feathers on her belly, I plugged some so I can open her.

And she was super healthy and happy yesterday…. Cant wrap my head around it.

My favorite chicken was a momma. She was on her second hatch when a racoon climbed over the run fence and was after her babies. She confronted the racoon and while I was racing from inside of the house to the pen with my son- that stinking racoon saw we were about to have him and suddenly just snapped her neck and she died instantly. He didn't take the carcass , he just dropped her and sauntered off. One of the roosters from her first hatch raised the babies, The gals wanted to but he would let no one touch those babies. My chicken was healthy. She was laying there with her babies surrounding her. Some pecked at her as if trying to wake her up. They mourned her a very long time afterwards. But they got to grow up in their own nursery home safe under big brother's care. Your autopsy showed a healthy laying hen as far as I could tell from the pictures. I'm not saying a dog or predator got her but it is a possibility. Dogs often just kill to kill and leave the carnage everywhere. Racoons on the other hand will kill one and try to eat it right there. It's horrifying to hear a chicken screaming because a racoon managed to grab a chickens leg through the fence and is eating it while the chicken is still alive. We set out dog friendly paw traps and caught that big nasty racoon. Its spring, and time to set up a few more traps outside. They come super hungry at their breeding time of year.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

Thank you so much for your kind message and sharing your experience, this means a lot to me.

So you think that that fat around her organs is normal?

Her vent was wide open when I found her laying on the ground and I did not see any egg shell fragments. Her vent looked like there could have been an egg in, but those were intestines.

Unfortunately, I did not look at her lungs.

She had all feathers on her belly, I plugged some so I can open her.

And she was super healthy and happy yesterday…. Cant wrap my head around it.

I was interrupted and had to deal with family. That layer of yellow fat is loaded with vitamin A and is extremely common with laying hens. It is prized in Mediterranean cooking after the fat has been rendered from it. It is called schmaltz. Makes great chicken soup. With her vent being open like that and I have seen it when my neighbors dogs have attacked and murdered turkeys and a year later my chickens... my animals were in extreme distress. I have seen it also in humans in the trauma center as they were dying and all of our heroic interventions weren't going to stop the inevitable outcome. My gut tells me this healthy chicken was attacked by a predator. Although there is such a condition in pigs and guinea pigs called blow out, that happens when straining to go potty is so extreme the intestines come out. You can't wrap your head around why your girl passed away. Well we do mourn our feather babies and death never makes sense. I don't know what faith you are- and I do not judge a person by what they believe but for Christians the Bible tells us in Revelation 5 (my paraphrase) ALL creatures great and small from the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that are in them will be in heaven singing praises to God. I was so sad when I was 19 because a friend told me no animals could go to heaven or there would have to be a mouse Jesus and a dog Jesus etc etc. But it isn't like that after all. I read the Book! ALL of creation became cursed and animals fell under the curse over all creation too. When the curse is finally reversed animals are going to and will be found in heaven. And they will be noted as singing praises to God. I worked healthcare since I was 14 years old. I have met many hundreds of patients with near death experiences. Adults and children alike. I even had two near death experiences myself. There are many who reported seeing favorite pets in heaven with family members (including past generations they never met) and babies that died before birth. I have hatched out every single bird that the mommas didn't hatch. I plan to see them all again, and I know and believe you will see your bird again. Since I believe as it is written every tear will be wiped away- those things we can't wrap our heads around won't bug us at all because they'll be wiped away with the tears. If people say to me they will look for me in that day- I tell them to look for the flocks of birds and beautiful children. I'm old now and nearing the end of my lifespan. I think I'll be having a good time with my feather babies. My turkeys already love trying to sing with me and my favorite CD. It comes out funny because of their voices but we have a blast singing anyway. [yeah some of the neighbors think I'm nuts with the birds]